Large companies have used big data and analytics to improve all areas in business relative to sales, marketing, and operations, but there are actually several opportunities for small businesses to use big data and gain big results. They just need to know where to look for this leverage.
The first step—set your goals. Consider the areas you need to tackle in order to enhance your business. For instance, maybe you need to work on improving a sales funnel or generating more leads. Once you’ve decided what targets to hit, you can then incorporate big data as a solution.
Here are 4 ways to boost your small business’ growth through the power of big data.
Use Online Tools
There are several options that are free or affordable for small businesses to use, and by working with these online tools, you can easily track the outcomes of your projections. For instance, you can set up a Google Analytics account, which is a free online tool, to monitor the number of visitors viewing your site. What’s more, you can even track their actions, so you can see who visits which page and who submits a contact form to learn more or start a dialogue.
Why is this important? By tracking these results, you can see which pages need improvements to garner more attraction and bring in more high quality traffic. Likewise, you can see which pages are working and use those as a model, as well. Those channels that do bring in the traffic will likely lead to more leads and sales, so you’ll want to make sure all pages are performing up to those standards.
Another option is using a CRM, which can be relatively affordable, and you can even start with a free plan under a platform, such as Hubspot Sales. With this tool, you can see how people respond to emails and how sales emails and calls can initiate the lead conversion process.
Produce Great Content
Big data results through content can help you figure out what people are searching for online and how best to provide expertise and solutions. A great way to incorporate content is through clear and concise verbiage on your website, as well as in the creation of an active blog, where you can provide relatable and relevant content to engage your target market.
By using the tool Google Adwords Keyword Planner, you can target specific key terms that people are searching for online to increase the chances of your content being visible. Then, you can track the level of engagement on Google Analytics and decide how best to improve from there.
Solve Problems Easily
Big data can help businesses learn more about their customers and their outreach, to see what’s working and what’s not. By viewing and responding to customer feedback, businesses can then adjust their methods to better connect with their audience. Using big data will allow companies to look inside their customers’ minds: seeing what they want, what interests them, what they want to buy, what their preferences are, and what makes them change their minds about things, and more.
Here you’d want to use Google Analytics to see which pages on the site have higher exit rates—where people are leaving quickly—versus the ones that are being viewed for longer or are generating more clicks elsewhere.
The great thing about big data is you can shape how you want your business to work in order to be most effective, at a very small cost (or no cost). Trends are constantly changing, and monitoring consistently will help you make transitions where needed without burning a hole in your wallet or draining your time and energy.
Scope Out The Competition
These free tools can address what small business’ competitors are doing, so they can see how they measure up and figure out how best to come out on top. For instance, using Google trends will help provide big data results that can express what the current interests, questions, designs, purchases, and other types of trends are in today’s world. Here, you can see where you should be allocating resources and where to take advantage in order to effectively compete.
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